REVIEW: TIE Pilot VCD

Background

Medicom’sVinyl Collectible Doll (VCD) line is of interest to both designer vinyl collectors as well as Star Wars fanatics. (They do have plenty of other VCD lines such as Disney and Marvel) Their super-deformed vinyl series has brought us the likes of many key Star Wars characters…although slightly skewed to the dark side.

For purposes of this review, we’re going to be looking at one of the lesser-known characters from Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The TIE Pilot was mainly seen during the final Death Star scene. Sideshow Collectibles distributes this and most of the Medicom manufactured figures in the US and Europe.

Packaging

Medicom does an excellent job with the packaging for this line. Even though it might be difficult to see the figure through the small plastic panes in the box, designing the packaging similar to the character’s helmet gets a ‘thumbs up’. And the company uses two, interlocking plastic trays which alleviates the need for any of those nasty twist ties.

The Figure

The TIE Pilot is made of rotocast vinyl and stands at approximately 8”
in height. The figure has 8 points of articulation (head, waist,
hands, shoulders and feet). The lone accessory is a blaster pistol
that fits in either of the figure’s hands.

The paintwork is rather impressive. While the helmet and flak jacket
are painted with a glossy coat, the rest of the body has a matte
finish. It makes for a pretty interesting contrast. Also, Medicom
uses actual plastic tubing that leads from the TIE Pilot’s helmet to
its’ life-support system chest piece.

Our Opinion

Even though we rarely saw the TIE Pilots in the Star Wars films, it had
always been one of my favorite characters. Was it because it looked a
little like a Stormtrooper that was painted black? Maybe. But while
the Stormtroopers did the grunt work, TIE Pilots seemed to be a little
better trained and a little more skilled at their job. The elite class.

So with a clearly biased mindset, I’d have to say that this character
is my favorite character from Medicom’s VCD line...to date. (Now, that might change
if they decide to do an Imperial Gunner figure) There are no design
flaws (something I can’t say about my Boba Fett VCD that’s always
tipping over), the paint job is excellent and it’s simply a quality
piece from one of Japan’s top toy companies.